Party leaders show the love

Following a week where hundreds of thousands of people showed the love for all that could be lost to climate change, UK politicians from the three main political parties have also pledged their support.

In a highly unusual move, David Cameron, Nick Clegg and the Leader of the Opposition, Ed Miliband, have agreed to work together to tackle climate change. They have jointly pledged:

* To seek a fair, strong, legally binding, global climate deal which limits temperature rises to below 2°C
* To work together, across party lines, to agree carbon budgets in accordance with the Climate Change Act
* To accelerate the transition to a competitive, energy efficient low carbon economy and to end the use of unabated coal for power generation

The agreement comes after the launch of a short film featuring stars such as Stephen Fry, Dermot O’Leary and Emilia Fox inspiring people to care about climate change. The film ‘A Simple Love Poem’ has already been seen by hundreds of thousands of people and shared by a host of high profile faces, including Hollywood actor Mark Ruffalo.

2015 is an incredibly important year for climate change negotiations, which run all year and culminate in December’s Paris summit (COP21). Today’s statement highlights the contrast between the UK and countries where support for tackling climate change is a party political issue, for example in the US, Australia and Canada.

The agreement has been widely welcomed across the political spectrum, with the Former vice President of the United States, Al Gore, stating that:

“This agreement represents inspiring leadership and true statesmanship by all three men. The political courage it represents on all sides is exactly what our world most needs in order to solve the climate crisis. Thank you! Thank you! And thank you!”

The ‘Show the Love’ campaign has been spearheaded by The Climate Coalition, made up of more than 100 organisations including Oxfam, WWF and Christian Aid, and representing millions of people around the UK.